Last week we published a news (read here) about the 19-year-old Noura Hussein Hamad who was found guilty of attempted murder after suffering marital rape.
We were hoping she wouldn’t be sentenced to death but yesterday the Central Criminal Court of Omdurman in Sudan sentenced the teenage bride to death by hanging…
We tweeted again about Noura and shared an interview of her by Kractivist. We used an illustration made by Khalid Albaih.
https://twitter.com/MagkaSama/status/994253411955589122
We are outraged by this sentence and the story of Noura is now spreading around the world. Here a tweet by Sodfa Daaji showing people gathered to support Noura for her last trial…
https://twitter.com/sodfadaaji/status/994530925139591169
Last week we mentioned an article by 7DNews, and they published a new post about the marital rape victim facing death by hanging:
In an interview with 7Dnews, Noura said her family forced her to marry her deceased husband when she was 16 years old. She fled her family’s home and lived for three years with her aunt in Sennar. In April 2017, at the age of 19, her family completed the marriage ceremony and handed her over to the groom. Noura narrated how her husband’s relatives broke into their apartment in Khartoum, where they were spending their honeymoon. They attacked and held her down while he raped her in front of them. He attempted to rape her again on the second day, which is when she stabbed him to death.
Noura Hussain has already spent 12 months in Omdurman Women’s Prison. No one from her family has visited her. There are claims that they moved to another part of the country fearing revenge by the deceased family. Adel Mohammed Abdel Mahmoud, head of Noura’s defence team refused to comment on the sentence. He said a statement from her defence team will be published later, detailing their position on the sentence and the development of the litigation.
The article points out that the Sudanese Personal Status Law for Muslims 1991 allows guardians to marry their daughters at the age of 10 years old. Women in Sudan, regardless of their age, cannot marry without the consent of their guardians, while their guardians are allowed to give them away in marriage without getting their consent.
In this article published on The Guardian, mechanical engineer, social advocate, and writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied provides more information on the life of Noura until she was sentenced to death:
Noura Hussein, a young woman from Sudan, provides an instructive and urgent example. At the age of 16, Noura was forced into a marriage by her father. She refused and escaped from her family home near Khartoum to stay with her aunt in Sennar, around 250km away. She lived there for three years, determined to finish her education, when she received word that the wedding plans had been cancelled, and she was welcome to come home.
On her return, it became apparent that she had been tricked. The wedding ceremony was underway, and Noura was duly “given” to the groom. Distraught, the 19-year-old refused to consummate the marriage for a number of days. Within the week, her husband’s tactics became increasingly aggressive. Noura’s husband raped her, with the help of relatives who pinned her down during the act.
When the husband returned the next day to repeat the crime, Noura retaliated. She stabbed her husband a number of times, ultimately killing her rapist. She thereafter returned to her family, who reportedly then disowned her and turned her over to the police.
Over a year later, on 29 April, 2018, Noura was convicted of murder. On 10 May, she was sentenced to death. Abdel-Magied adds that the family and community have 15 days to appeal the sentence.
We have to do everything we can to save Noura and the more we will spread the word about her story, the more chances we have to be heard and to overturn the decision to execute her. We will send a Newsletter this weekend about Noura with all the details you need (news, links, stories,…). In the meantime, please use social networks to alert about Noura’s case and use hashtags: #NouraHussein #JusticeForNoura #SaveNoura!
